Masked
by ShayAz
Summary: ONESHOT Advanceshipping May is beaten in the Hoenn Grand Final Festival by a masked co-ordinator. How will she react? What events will unfold afterwards?


Hello.

This is my first oneshot ever, and the first fic I have uploaded onto FanFiction before (confusing process much?)

Well, I hope you like it.

Disclaimer: ShayminADV does not own Pokémon, or the characters in pokémon, or technically anything in the slightest relation to pokémon. Except for all my old plush toys. I still own them XD

_**Masked**_

May stood before the crowds, and tears pricked her eyes. The man that stood in front of her was an unknown. Well, maybe not. She wasn't really sure, as the porcelain mask that prevented his identity from being shown. He could, in reality, be one of the most well known co-ordinators in the entire world, and his identity may just be concealed for this one time. But who knows, it doesn't matter anyway.

She had lost.

The brunette recalled the fainted pokémon in front of her; a red fowl shaped like a humanoid, and spun towards the exit. Tears trickled down the girl's face once she knew she was out of vision of her opponent. She hated showing any weakness to her opponents; it made her feel flawed.

She walked into the arched tunnel way leading from the stadium, but slumped against the wall in the shadow of the exit rather than continuing towards the preparation room, her tears getting the better of her as she broke out into a fit of sobbing. She heard proceedings begin, starting with the man who had beaten her accept the Ribbon Cup.

May sat their, wallowing in self-pity. _I'm a horrible co-ordinator. I could have won that, but I put on such a pitiful performance. Maybe Drew was right, maybe I am worthless._ Her thoughts wandered on to Drew, and forced her through another fit of hysterics. She hated the jade haired co-ordinator, his cockiness and air of superiority completely enraged her. She was happy at the thought, though, that he too, was beaten by this mysterious man.

She waited now, for the prissy to make a little speech, thanking everyone he could think of, saying he have couldn't done it without all his fans. Nothing came.

Confused, she looked out from the safety of her shadow to see the masked man walking towards her. She jumped to her feet and tried her best to wipe away the dried tears laced with leaked mascara, but to no avail.

"Wh-what do y-yo-you want?!" the woman stuttered, new tears already beginning to form, a mix of anger and depression impeding her voice, "You b-beat me a-al-already!"

"I was just checking if you were all right," answered the masked man, without the slightest offence to her rude greeting. His was voice kind and warm, even if it was mottled and distorted by the porcelain, "I could hear your crying from the stage, so I just wondered if you needed a little bit of help."

Without thinking, May fell forward, gripping his torso in a fierce hug and weeping on his firm, muscled shoulder. He hesitated, taken aback by the sudden movement from the sad girl, but in the end returned the gesture as he wrapped his arms around her too.

Standing by the opening of the tunnel were two paparazzi, a cameraman and a reporter. The reporter smiled gleefully at the sight and signalled for the cameraman to begin recording.

Little did the two know that a loyal Pikachu just so happened to be nearby at the time and pulled on the white trouser leg of the reporter. Confused, the woman looked down at the mouse, a big smile covering her face at the sight of the mouse.

In a quiet voice, she began to baby the small rodent, which seemed to aggravate it further. "We're rolling, Abby," said the cameraman, but the Pikachu fried the camera's circuitry.

"_Pika, pi pika,_" the electric-type threatened. The two paparazzi backed off quickly, their hands in front of them, but Pikachu was already annoyed. "_Pi-ka-CHU!!_" Pikachu sent a few hundred volts coursing through the duo, blasting them sky-high.

As they began to ascend, the cameraman realised something. "Didn't that Pikachu belong to May?" he asked the lady, but she was too busy swearing to notice him.

Back to May and the unknown individual, still embraced in the warm hug. The man had seen the events before unfold. "Thank you, Pikachu," he thanked the yellow mouse, who chirped before darting away into the stands.

"May, let's go somewhere else," the individual suggested as he noticed a group of paparazzi find them in the shadows of the tunnel. The brunette nodded amidst her tears and the two headed towards the media free waiting room below the stadium, so the paparazzi couldn't follow them.

The Champion Co-ordinator helped seat May down onto one of the seats arranged throughout the room. He was confused as to why she was so sad. _She has come so far, _he thought to himself quietly, _at least from when I last saw her._

In a momentary gap in the weeping, May formed a single question.

"Why are you being so nice to me?"

Invisible to her, the man smiled beneath the mask, the simple question bringing back so many memories. Days gone by, when he helped anyone without question, even if they didn't want the help.

So he answered simply. "It's in my nature."

May stared at him, trying to figure him out. Her crying fit came to an abrupt halt, as the warm tone struck a chord with a wayward thought within her mind. Memories flooded into her consciousness of her times with Him. _Could this man possibly be Him? _May couldn't help but ask herself. No, it's not. It couldn't possibly…could it?

Why would he re-appear, at this moment in her life, and still care so deeply about her. It had been years since she last saw him, and he wasn't even a Co-ordinator, he was a trainer.

_Well, one way to find out I suppose._

"What's you name?"

The abrupt question took the enigmatic man aback. Had she worked out who he was. Well, it wasn't a bad thing if she had. It meant that he hadn't broken his oath, if she had broken through to his true identity. _But if she was asking, then she didn't know for sure, and I can't help, or else I could quite possibly be expelled from my ranks._

"I can't tell you. I don't break promises, and I promised I wouldn't reveal my identity. In fact, I shouldn't even be talking to you."

"But you are talking to me, so why can't you tell me your name?" May was sure it was Him, but she couldn't help but make sure. "You are Ash, aren't you?"

The man tilted his head towards the ground, as if in deep thought. "Yes."

May began to tear up again, and she threw herself at the man, forcing the air out of his lungs.

"Where did you go?" She was sobbing into his shoulder again, "We were all so worried, no-one knew where you went. You just disappeared into thin air and never came back. No address, no note, no legacy left behind. You only took some of your pokémon, and left _Pikachu_ behind, for me. I just have one question. Why?"

Though the girl didn't know, a single tear had fallen from his eyes, landing on the inside of the glazed porcelain.

"Because you didn't want me…"

May's voice in her throat as she remembered the day that had obviously sent Ash packing.

_-Four Years Ago-_

"_I can do just fine without you Ash!" May screeched, anger rippling through her voice._

"_I realise that May! But you could do great to just _thank_ me, you know!" Ash retorted, his anger just a violent as hers, "I have helped you reach this achievement!"_

_May had just won the Hoenn Grand Festival, but the achievement seemed to have gone to her head, and now she was brooding that she had done it without any help whatsoever, and had angered Ash by saying this. Max and Brock had long since gone their own ways, Max becoming a trainer himself, and was currently competing in Johto. Brock, on the other hand, had actually fallen in love on their travels (literal love, not the usual 'Brock' love) with another aspiring breeder, and they now lived together, in Sinnoh. So, Ash had joined with May and now they were travelling together, by their lonesomes, for close to six years now._

_All five of those years, May had managed to get into the Grand Festival. Four of those years she made to and past the Top 8. Two of those years she made it to the Top 2, and of those two, she had won once. Now, she had won twice._

_Though she had won it before, this time her ego inflated to much, and she couldn't seem to stop bragging, and she hadn't once thought to thank Ash. Leading to the current conflict._

"_You are so annoying, Ash. Why do you insist that I thank you?!" May shouted at him, her temper level dangerously high._

"_Because someone has to bring you back down to Earth, May! So, stop being so stubborn, stop bragging and actually thank someone for the help that they've given you!"_

"_No!" May refused to do so fervently, "Why can't you just disappear?!"_

_Ash took on a sombre tone. "If you want, maybe I will."_

_The young man, now well into his early twenties, walked away, to his sleeping quarters, leaving May to herself._

"_See you soon," May muttered under her breath angrily, "Or hopefully, not!"_

_May had stumbled back to their room that night drunk, and after fumbling around at the door, fell straight onto her bed after looking at Ash's bed. She had seen Pikachu next to Ash's pillow, and the large lump that was Ash under the covers._

_She woke up that morning and saw the large lump still there, as well as Pikachu._

That's not like Ash, _she thought to herself while yawning, _normally he's up at the crack of dawn. Oh well, may as well wake him up. _Stretching, she bumbled towards the other bed and ripped off the covers._

_She found an odd assortment of pillows and sheets lying there, impersonating Ash._

_She covered her mouth and fell to her knees. He was gone!_

He can't be gone though, _May reasoned with herself, _he left Pikachu behind, and he _never _leaves Pikachu behind.

_She shook the small rodent awake, and looked deep into the pokémon's eyes, to find that their usual glint of happiness and warmth had disappeared, leaving behind grim despair and loneliness, and in that moment, she knew that Ash truly was gone and had left he behind. Still on her knees, she began to cry. She was completely alone, except for her pokémon and Pikachu, which she assumed he left behind for her._

_She didn't get the chance to tell him she loved him._

_-End Flashback-_

Forcing her face back into his shoulder, she let loose yet another stream of tears. "You left because of that?" she moaned, "You should have known I didn't mean it! I didn't get the chance to tell you that I loved you!"

Ash's grip on her torso completely slackened, his arms held up by the slimmest of efforts. "I loved you, too. But I thought you didn't like me, when you said that."

May released a feeble laugh. "Luckily, I still do." In a single fluid moment, she pulled off his mask, closed her eyes before she got a view of his face and pressed her lips to his. Ash's firm grip returned, with renewed strength, and he kissed back.

Their tongues darted in and out of each other's mouths, tracing along the insides. May seized slightly, joy overriding any of her natural senses. Ash was the one to break it off, after a lengthy make-out session that left both of them gasping for breath.

"That was-," Ash struggled for the right word "-intense." He kept his eyes diverted to the ground the entire time since the kiss, and May furrowed her brow.

"Why are you hiding your face?" she asked, concern lacing her tone.

Ash sighed as if depressed. "I've changed, May. Things happened, and it's why I hide my face now. I don't want you to see."

May frowned. "Ash, I'm sure you know that isn't good for a healthy relationship." The man tried to laugh, but his voice broke when he tried. The man groaned and he covered his 'changed' face in his hands.

May frowned even more. "Just show me your face, Ash," she ordered powerfully. He lifted it up and she grabbed hold of his chin and spun his face around to be directly in front of her.

She instantly surged into pity for the man in front of her. The right-hand side of his face was covered by splotchy burns, the largest directly above his eye which left the eye-lid to sag in a droopy manner.

"Oh my Lord Mew, what happened, Ash?" He sighed and began telling the story of how he had come to receive the burns that disfigured the entire right-side of his face.

He had been asleep one night, next to his camp fire, all his pokémon recalled into their pokéballs, when a solitary Ariados had emerged from the surrounding underbrush, intent on capturing its prey.

The faint rustling noises of the Ariados trampling the dried leaves beneath its feet woke Ash, due to his concentration of nightmares at the time leaving him a light sleeper. He had risen to see the Ariados fire a Sludge Bomb directly at him. The two were separated by the campfire, but the Sludge Bomb, when it hit the flames, exploded, sending the flammable poison spraying around the campsite. Some of this landed on Ariados, driving away the stealthy attacker, but much of it hit Ash too. He had turned his face away as best he could at the last minute, but the right-hand side of his face was hit, creating the terrible burns that could be seen today.

He managed to get Floatzel into the open, and the otter quenched the poisonous flames with a quick jet of water, but the damage was already done. The flames had left him permanently disfigured, and forever since he had insisted on wearing a mask to hide the scars left by the terrible night.

When he finished the story, May's pity became twofold. The accident had left him scarred for life.

"I don't mind," May said, blushing, "I still love you."

And she leaned forward and stole another kiss.

* * *

And there you have it.

Hope you enjoyed it, and don't forget to review. It is much appreciated.


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